I was giving a lesson last week to a student who was not following through and finishing her swing.

I demonstrated what a good finish should look like, with the hips fully rotated so the torso faces the target with the weight transferred to the forward leg. I also pointed out that the arm swing was completed as well, with the club over my forward shoulder. Then I asked her to imitate me.

After she took a few practice swings I had her hit a ball, and she immediately went back to her old habit of not following through.

The next step was to ask her to repeat the practice swings and hold her finish position for a count of two. (We call this the TV finish because tour professionals frequently finish their swings and watch the progress of their shot while still in this position.) Then I asked her to hit a ball and do the same thing, following all the way through and holding her finish position for two seconds.

She did this a few times, then she asked me why the follow-through mattered, as she had already hit the ball.

The answer is simple. By not committing to finishing the swing, she was actually decelerating at impact, and her left arm was collapsing before impact. (Remember last week's article on the most important moment in the golf swing - impact - and the need to have the left arm fully extended with the club in line with it).

Her weight was not fully transferring, and her hips did not rotate around to face the target, so she could not achieve a solid hit on the center of the clubface. She was also losing a lot of club-head speed and, therefore, distance.

I believe this is a common misconception - that the follow-through does not matter because you have already hit the ball. I see it not only in the full swing, but on all of the short-game shots as well. I certainly see many instances where, on chips and putts, there is all back-swing and no follow-through.

A comparison would be in football, when the quarterback does not have a chance to step into his delivery and follow through because of defensive pressure. The result is usually not good, with an incompletion or even an interception the result.